Former Army soldier gets 70 months in telecom hacking case

Cameron John Wagenius, a former U.S. Army soldier, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $294,978 in restitution for his role in a hacking and extortion campaign targeting telecommunications companies and other organizations, the Justice Department said. The sentence was imposed Friday, September 25, 2026. Court records and the Justice Department say Wagenius pleaded guilty in two cases in the Western District of Washington: in March 2025 to two counts of unlawfully transferring confidential phone records, and in July 2025 to charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, extortion related to computer fraud and aggravated identity theft. According to the department, Wagenius and coconspirators targeted at least 10 organizations from April 2023 through December 18, 2024. They obtained credentials for protected computer networks and used them to access and steal data. The department said the group attempted to extort more than $1 million in total from victim organizations, threatening to publish stolen information if they were not paid.